Experimental study of implantation-induced disordering in InGaAsP strained multiple-quantum-well heterostructures

The effect of strain on F+ and Si+ implantation-induced compositional disordering in InGaAsP strained layer multiple-quantum-well (MQW) heterostructures has been studied by investigating the temperature dependence of the photoluminescence (PL) spectra and spatial distribution of degree of polarization of PL for both compressive and tensile strained, and unstrained MQW heterostructures. It was found that under similar implantation and anneal conditions a spectral blueshift occurs which is largest in the compressively strained structure and the smallest in the tensile one. This behavior is explained in terms of implantation-enhanced interdiffusion, by taking into account the composition differences of elements between the wells and barriers. The development of strain related to the process of interdiffusion has been experimentally observed.